There is an increasing use of Global Positioning System (GPS)-based navigation systems in vehicles. Such navigation systems receive signals from an array of satellites which are part of the GPS. Based on received signals, GPS-based navigation systems may identify a vehicle's location in terms of latitude and longitude. The navigation system may also detect the vehicle's speed and direction of travel. With geographic information stored in an on-board computer in the vehicle, the navigation system is capable of audio-visually communicating to a user instructions for reaching a given destination.
For many users of GPS-based navigation systems, the route to be traveled may not be entirely unfamiliar. Hence, the user may not need instructions (audio/graphically) from the navigation system for the entire route. However, GPS-based navigation systems do not currently take into consideration whether the user only needs guidance for a portion of the route. As a result, the GPS-based navigation system unnecessarily uses power and provides instructions when it may not be necessary.